SNAKES OF ROCKLAND COUNTY, NEW YORK 



BY W. SEWARD WALLACE 



The region on the west side of the Hudson river, between West 

 Point and New York city, is said to be one of the richest areas 

 in species of flowering plants in the eastern United States. It is 

 also rich in other forms of life, the Reptilia, in particular, being 

 abundantly represented. 



The following notes were taken in part during the summers of 

 1895-96, on the low chain of hills that extend from Sparkill, 

 northward, along the river to Haverstraw, and thence westward 

 and southward to the vicinity of Sterling lake. 



Rockland county, the smallest in the State, is three-sided, its 

 boundaries having the form of a triangle, the apex a few miles 

 west of Ramapo, the base resting on the Hudson river. This 

 geographic area nearly coincides with a geologic basin com- 

 prised between the Highland range and the trap rock elevations 

 known as the Palisades (Closter, Tallman, South and other 

 mountains ; Verdrietege Hook and the High Tor) . These high hills 

 extend in a hugh semicircle along the Hudson river, and from near 

 HaverstraAV northward to " near the Highlands," 1 and thence 

 southwestward toward the Highland range, which continues the 

 formation southward. Inclosed within the various hills lies a 

 basin of fertile land, the exposed rock being the Triassic sand- 

 stone. Thus on the hills we find a region quite different from 

 that of the low plain in the interior, and corresponding differ- 

 ences in the fauna. 



Certain species are of somewhat rare occurrence in the county, 

 and it is possible that they are only strays. It seems very pos- 

 sible that single individuals or even numbers of a species may 

 wander north or south of their habitat during a single season, 

 and be found there, without necessarily extending the natural 

 habitat of the species. Thus the northern limit of the pine snake, 

 in the vicinity of New York, was heretofore the southern portion 



! See Mather's Report on the First Geological District, Geology of New York, 

 1843, where an excellent account is given of the whole formation. 



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